In the second quarter of 2024, the share of American renters grew 1.9% year over year to a record 45.2 million, according to a Redfin report. The growth is three times faster than the share of homeowner households, which grew 0.6% to a record 86.3 million.
According to the report, the number of renter households grew at the second-fastest pace since 2021, while the number of homeowner households grew at the slowest pace since 2019. The renter household growth reached a peak in the first quarter of this year at 2.8%—the largest gain since 2015.
For three straight quarters, renter households have formed faster than homeowner households largely because of home buying costs. As median apartment asking rents increased less than 1% year over year in June, the median monthly mortgage payment rose roughly 5%.
“The cost of both renting and buying a home has skyrocketed in recent years, but the affordability crunch isn’t quite as severe in the rental market. That’s because America has been building a lot of apartments to keep pace with robust demand from renters,” says Redfin senior economist Sheharyar Bokhari.
“The country’s leaders should heed this lesson when considering how to improve affordability in the home buying market: When there’s more housing to go around, prices don’t increase as fast.”
Over the past year, the nation has added 855,00 renter households, with new multifamily housing units also rising at an annual rate of 563,000 as of the second quarter. The fastest pace of new construction since 1994 was in the first quarter of 2024.
Just over one-third, or 34.4%, of households in the United States are renter households, according to Redfin. The figure has stayed steady over time, but the shares are much higher in coastal metros. Regionally, Los Angeles has the highest rate of renters at 53% compared with the 75 largest metros.
Los Angeles is followed by San Diego (52.4%); New York (50.1%); Fresno, California (49%); and Austin, Texas (46.3%). Although Fresno is not nearly as expensive as Los Angeles or San Diego, over 20% of residents in Fresno County live below the poverty line, which is nearly double the statewide share, making it challenging for many people to own a home, Redfin notes.
In contrast, rentership rates are lower than average in regions where it’s more affordable to buy a home. In Worcester, Massachusetts, 23.2% of households are renter households, the lowest share among the 75 metros. North Port, Florida (23.3%); Albany, New York (25.6%); Rochester, New York (25.7%); and Syracuse, New York (26.2%) follow closely behind.
